The King's Son
The King's Son is the fourth scenario in Revolt of the Beastmasters, the seventh part of Heroes Chronicles. After the death of Baron Paglon, Mad King Gryphonheart sent his oldest son Niven to deal with Tarnum and his rebels. Niven was considered a great tactician, even though he was barely sixteen years old, and decided to remove the bounty on the heads of escaped slaves to instead put a large bounty on Tarnum, intending to take out the snake's head. Tarnum sent Brellick with most of his army to defend the women, children and invalids in the swamps, but Niven set an ambush and killed most of the soldiers. Showing more mercy than the rest of the Erathians, prince Niven refused to execute the noncombatans and instead locked them up in the dungeons. An Erathian noble met privately with Tarnum and asked him to try to spare Niven's life when they met in combat - Mad King Gryphonheart had secretly sent him here to die, since he considered the prince far too soft on the slaves. The noble told Tarnum that Mad King Gryphonheart wasn't very popular, and that Niven might be able to lead them in a coup against his father. Tarnum told him he would try not to kill him, but wouldn't make any promises. In the middle of the night, Droglo and Tarnum snuck into Niven's camp, knocking the prince out and taking him away. When they had made their way back, Niven was put in a cage under guard. Tarnum told Niven that he would show him what Erathia was like under the King's leadership, and that if he couldn't change the prince's mind, he would let him go. Tarnum showed him the slaves they had freed, their whip marks and exhaustion, but Niven suspected it was a trick. Their personal stories of torture and pain did little to impress him, so in the end, Tarnum showed Niven an Erathian army camp, the dozens of slaves crammed into slave pens, and the score of corpses hanging from the dead trees. Niven cried in horror at the sight, and Droglo wondered if it wouldn't have been kinder to kill him. When Niven realized the crimes his subjects had committed, Droglo placed a calming hand on his shoulder, proposing an alliance and friendship. Tarnum was impressed at the way his young friend was taking command, and knew that the Mudlanders were going to be all right, if only they could get rid of the Mad King. Walkthrough Tarnum and his two strongest heroes from the previous scenario start out with two Fortresses and a Stronghold in the southwestern part of the map. The enemy has three Castles in the northeastern part of the map, and one east of Tarnum's towns. They also have the heroes Tyris, Valeska, Rion, and Adelaide. All the enemy heroes start with large armies and will be difficult to deal with. Tarnum will be fighting a war on two fronts, so his first priority should be building up an army and taking out the Castle east of his towns. After this, he'll have more towns than his enemy, and the only way for his opponent to reach him is to approach the northern Fortress, meaning that he can gather his creatures here to prevent the enemy from advancing. He should be prepared for some tough fights - the heroes will present a real challenge. Once Tarnum has built up all four towns under his command, and defended himself from the attacks from the enemy heroes, he can take out the last three Castles and emerge victorious. Towns * Two Fortresses * One Stronghold * Four Castles Strategy In the southeastern corner, there's a two-way monolith that leads to a hidden valley with extra resources and a Tome of Earth Magic. Category:Revolt of the Beastmasters scenarios